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About $36.8 million in unconventional natural gas well impact fees paid in 2013 will go to local governments in Northeast Pennsylvania, according to the state Public Utility Commission.

The total impact fee disbursement is more than $135 million to local governments across the state. The fee schedule as prescribed in Act 13 of 2012, pays most to counties, townships and municipalities with gas drilling. Local governments will receive the money by July 1.

The impact fee has a complicated route to reach local governments. First, the state skims about $25.5 million off the top for its agencies.

After that, 60 percent goes to the Unconventional Gas Well Fund, which the PUC uses to distribute funds to counties with horizontal wells and municipalities in those counties, even if they don’t have drilling in their boroughs or townships.

Upgrading heating and cooling and electronics at the county jail, improving the county 911 center to meet state requirements and expanding the county’s GIS programs are all ways Susquehanna County commissioners are considering spending their impact fees, commissioner Alan Hall said. Last year, they cut property taxes 20 percent and would like to do the same next year, he said. They will discuss more thoroughly when they draft their budget in November, he said.

Wyoming County counted on the impact fee when it purchased a new computer-aided design system for its 911 center, commissioner Tom Henry said. The commissioners also plan to spend some on housing and hold some in reserve, he said.

Municipalities in Bradford County cumulatively will receive almost $5 million more than the county government. In Susquehanna County, they will get almost $3 million more. The difference is almost $870,000 in Wyoming County.

For Lackawanna County, one well in Benton Twp. provided a trickle of money to local governments — Southwestern Energy Production Co.’s Wells Rosiak 1, which was reported plugged last September.

The county will receive $6,493, and local governments will get a total of $11,544 in small checks, ranging from $8.09 in Thornhurst Twp. to $7,180 in Benton Twp.

The Northeast Pennsylvania counties with no gas production can only receive money from the Marcellus Legacy Fund, comprised of 40 percent of the impact fee money left over after the state’s off-the-top skim.

Lackawanna County will receive about $205,500 from this fund; Luzerne County will get $308,000; Wayne County, almost $50,000; and Pike and Monroe counties, both free of gas wells, will get $54,500 and $161,753, respectively.

Local governments are required to report back to the PUC on how they used Unconventional Gas Well Fund money, but not Marcellus Legacy Fund money. Reports for 2012 were due April 15.

The reporting forms are only available in hard-copy form at the PUC’s office in Harrisburg, spokeswoman Jennifer Kocher said.

“We haven’t had the manpower to scan them all at this point,” she said.

Pennsylvania is the only state with an impact fee — an annual flat tax imposed on unconventional wells capable of producing more than 90,000 cubic feet in a day. Other states impose taxes based on the volume or market value of gas produced.

In March, the state Independent Fiscal Office calculated an effective tax rate for Pennsylvania’s horizontal gas wells. The fee is the same regardless of production or market price.

This means the higher the price of gas and the more a well produces, the lower the effective tax rate is per well. It could range from less than 1 percent to more than 4 percent, the report states.

The natural gas industry has repeatedly expressed its support for the impact fee. Dave Spigelmyer, president of the Marcellus Shale Coalition, issued a statement in response to the PUC’s announcement of 2013 disbursements.

“These disbursements, which have increased more than 10 percent year-over-year, are providing critical revenue streams directly to local governments as well as for important environmental-focused programs,” he said.

Mr. Hall said local governments in the Marcellus Shale region fear an extraction tax would pull money away from the counties most affected by gas development.

“The super suits down in Harrisburg want to get their hands all this money,” he said. “That’s a decent chunk of money for Susquehanna County. We’re also the county that has a lot of impacts from the gas drilling.”

The extraction tax will be central to the 2014 governor’s race as lawmakers look to shore up the state’s budget. Democratic candidate Tom Wolf has proposed a 5 percent rate, comparable to West Virginia’s.

Mr. Henry said Wyoming County commissioners are trying not to rely on the impact fee in case it disappears after the next election.

“We’re going to be very careful in the way we proceed with it,” he said.

But creating a uniform extraction tax across the entire Marcellus Shale region would help “take taxes out of the equation” of where companies decide to drill, said Sharon Ward, director of the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center.

Extraction taxes are important to major oil-and-gas-producing states Texas and Oklahoma, which rely on them as a major source of funding in lieu of personal income taxes.

Pennsylvania should devote much of its extraction tax to its state budget, Ms. Ward said, but it doesn’t all have to flow into the general fund. Some could still go toward economic development initiatives in local governments by setting up a legacy fund, she said.

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